Common Core resolution is the most laughable bill of 2013

I have been watching this issue for some time now. I believe the actual
standards are not the biggest issue. The real issue, in my view, is that with
"gifts" of money also come strings of obligation, and loss of local
control. Why is this important? Anyone with a child who has gone through the
math Investigations fiasco of the last 12 years understands that when you are
concerned or upset with a methodology, you would like to at least feel heard.
It took 10 years for our LOCAL SCHOOL DISTRICT to pay ANY attention to what
every parent knew- the program was full of holes, misconceptions, and diatribes-
not to mention meaningless exercises that were both above and below the efforts
of the children.(Don't even get me started.)So, if we can hardly be heard
at a local level, what are we going to do when the now federally governed
education curriculum department does something we disagree with? To me, it is
not what the curriculum is that is the biggest problem, it is the potential loss
of local control that is the largest problem. Loss of local ability to change
local policy is dangerous to local freedom.

On the other handRiverdale, MD

Feb. 20, 2013 10:23 p.m.

Mr. Norton is sadly mistaken. While there are always plenty of contenders, the
Utah Legislature's most laughable bill of 2013 is HB289, which limits
municipalities' ability to regulate fireworks.

EDMCastle Valley, Utah

Feb. 20, 2013 8:54 a.m.

But Utah isn't "jumping ahead", as the author hopes. Utah is
lagging, so common standards might actually pull us forward.

FormerspudSouth Jordan, UT

Feb. 19, 2013 9:15 p.m.

I want to know why I am teaching long division, fractions, common denominators,
prime factorization, and decimals in fifth grade if according to Michele Malkin
they are not part of the common core. I think someone should be finding out what
is in the common core before they become experts.

Howard BealProvo, UT

Feb. 19, 2013 8:31 p.m.

I'm going to try to be the reasonable person here.

We have no
idea if the common core is a boondoggle but we also have no idea that it is the
education savior that its proponents hope.

danielgeerySalt Lake City, UT

Feb. 19, 2013 7:15 p.m.

I taught elementary school for twenty years, won educational awards, and wrote
professional educational articles. One was titled, "No Child's Left
Behind." You get the idea. I can only add that this bit of legislation is of
the same ilk.

IolantheProvidence, UT

Feb. 19, 2013 4:57 p.m.

It is important to raise our skill sets. I do not see how reading descriptions
of books raises our literary skill sets.

To Quote Michele
Malkin's article"algebra I instruction is pushed to ninth grade,
instead of eighth grade, Division is postponed from fifth to sixth grade. Prime
factorization, common denominators, conversions of fractions and decimals, and
algebraic manipulation are de-emphasized or eschewed. Traditional Euclidean
geometry is replaced with an experimental approach that had not been previously
pilot-tested in the U.S.

Ze’ev Wurman, a prominent software
architect, electrical engineer, and longtime math-advisory expert in California
and Washington, D.C., points out that Common Core delays proficiency with
addition and subtraction until 4th grade and proficiency with basic
multiplication until 5th grade, and skimps on logarithms, mathematical
induction, parametric equations, and trigonometry at the high-school level.

I believe the Common Core marks the cessation of educational standards
improvement in the United States. No state has any reason left to aspire for
first-rate standards, as all states will be judged by the same mediocre national
benchmark enforced by the federal government. Michele Malkin

John C. C.Payson, UT

Feb. 19, 2013 12:55 p.m.

I still hear people who believe we can mimic Singapore's high student
performance by using the Singapore math curriculum. I say their curriculum is
only a small part of their success, if any. The real difference is that
Singapore teachers in Singapore are paid, recruited, and treated like royalty.
Only the best students need apply to become a teacher, because competition is
fierce. Once selected, teacher-candidates are given a full scholarship plus
living money. Graduates from their teaching college earn as much as or more than
other professionals, like lawyers and engineers, and accountants. Doctors are
about the only profession that earns re. They are widely respected by the
public and the press. If you want to mimic Singapore, mimic that.

concerned grandmaSaratoga Springs, UT

Feb. 19, 2013 12:03 p.m.

Dear one old man,

I have put forth considerable effort and homework
in reading and listening to many different ideas and sides of the Common Core
issue. There is some good in the program but I think we need to be careful and
watchful as to where it may be leading us. The old adage of "follow the
money" could apply here as well as "who really benefits".

The truth? I think you and I differ as to what the truth really is, and here
in is a big part of the problem. The truth is different to different people and
trying to help someone recognize and accept the "truth" isn't
always easy. But hopefully we can all be diligent in our search for it.
Hopefully you too will put forth a little more effort.

What in Tucket?Provo, UT

Feb. 19, 2013 11:38 a.m.

Why not survey 50-100 teachers and see if they feel Common Core is working. Our
biggest need is math. Seems to me a trial of Singapore math should be done. I
have not noticed any big changes in our test scores.

John C. C.Payson, UT

Feb. 19, 2013 10:34 a.m.

Decades ago we heard complaints about how every state was teaching to such
different standards that it was extra difficult for students who moved from
state to state. Utah WAS one of the states in the coalition that pushed to work
with the other states in writing a common curriculum.

A big
misunderstanding lies behind the word "core." The Common Core
curriculum is not dumbed down, nor does it treat all students the same. I think
it raises the standards. It includes objectives in math, for example, that
encourage students to describe HOW their methods of calculating with fractions
and long division actually work. Teachers and schools can and do offer much
more than the basic core, and they also are free to teach it using all the
creativity they have always done so that it is adapted to individual student
needs. That's why teachers need and receive professional training.

one old manOgden, UT

Feb. 19, 2013 10:30 a.m.

concerned grandma, what you have heard is completely wrong.

Listening
to people like this author and Rob Bishop is like buying one of those ridiculous
tabloid newspapers and actually believing its stories of alien and Bigfoot
abductions, or any of the garbage about the President and his wife, or the
salacious tales about some "celebrity."

It may take a little
effort, but if you try, you will easily be able to learn the truth.

GroverSalt Lake City, UT

Feb. 19, 2013 10:19 a.m.

While I commend Io for stating what the letter writer does not i.e. what is
wrong with the Common Core, I still am at a loss for seeing what the fuss is
about. A major issue at play today in education is that the basic form has
remained unchanged since the days of the horse and buggy. Taking the summer off
is and semesters are two of many outmoded concepts in an era when graduates are
facing worldwide competition for jobs. The only way that Utah should opt out of
the Common Core is to make it MORE stringent and raises the bar HIGHER than the
Common Core. Citing the Gates foundation and United Nations is just code for
partisan blather aimed at those of a certain persuasion who still think parents
with a high school education should be the deciding vote on the issue.

concerned grandmaSaratoga Springs, UT

Feb. 19, 2013 9:05 a.m.

It's my understanding that in order to do away with NCLB (which I hear was
a disaster) the states had to sign onto Common Core and there was government
money for them "if they qualifited". Evidently Utah didn't qualify
because I heard that they didn't get government money. However, once
signed on, no going back.

After listening to Rob Bishop speaking to
our legislature, I think that Utah is "hooked", maybe unintentionally
but still hooked, to big government telling our states and local education
boards what, how, where, and when we teach are children and moving our
children's education further away from parents and local schools having any
say in what our children learn. I think government has their big toe in our door
so we need to watch out for the rest of the body coming through.

IolantheProvidence, UT

Feb. 19, 2013 8:53 a.m.

Just because many states have adopted Common Core does not make it valid,
correct or sensible. We are not lemmings jumping off a cliff after a fad . . .
but people who think, reason and choose . . . because we study it out in our
minds and take a long lean view at the future.

IolantheProvidence, UT

Feb. 19, 2013 8:49 a.m.

Those who study common core and don't just accept the propaganda that is
being shared by the education system, find there are no studies that are
benchmarked, and no high standards but a form of dumbing down our education and
our children. A form of government control is being installed that will greatly
affect our ability to make any kind of future change.

Common Core
ignores your child’s uniquenessCommon Core strips away local control
of education, leaving you with no say in standards or curriculumCommon
Core puts your child in a national database for cradle to grave trackingCommon Core will prepare your child for technical school, but not all
collegesCommon Core math standards are lower than our old standardsCommon Core English standards reduce great literature reading in high school
to 30% of reading, while 70% is for “informational texts”Common Core was not “state led” or “internationally
benchmarked”The players behind Common Core are large corporations
aiming to massively grow profits by getting all students on the exact same new
learning schedule. You could rename this Corporate Core.

Mamma CHEBER CITY, UT

Feb. 19, 2013 8:28 a.m.

Ever since I first started comparing what Gates' funded groups (Ed Week
Magazine, the PTA, the CCSSO, the NGA ) say about Common Core, to what the
Common Core actually is and does (especially to classic literature, to
traditional math, and to our state educational freedoms) I recall The Emperor
Who Wore No Clothes tale. The author of this article got this right. The
Common Core emperor is bare naked, with a nonexistent robe made of the words,
but not the substance, of "rigor" and "college readiness" and
"local control." Laughable, yes, but very serious.

OHBUColumbus, OH

Feb. 19, 2013 7:15 a.m.

Reading this op-ed, one wonders if the author has ever actually seen what is in
common core, or if he's simply upset about the sponsors. That Gates
Foundation money helped to sponsor its creation in no way makes it bad. They
also buy a lot of mosquito nets to help fight malaria in rural Africa. To call
this the biggest boondoggle in education is to willfully forget NCLB, which
somehow thought all education was quantifiable into multiple choice exams.

Mr. Norton's consistently popping up to oppose "socialist"
issues is wearing thin--he sees the word "common" and interprets
communism. The core is not at all designed to train all children for the same
job, as he suggests. What it does recognize is that our children are unable to
communicate properly, as writing has suffered under NCLB. It realizes that
problem solving has given way to memorization and test prep. There's no
sinister play here, that's why almost every state--red or blue--has adopted
it.